Judge to Bruno: No press talk

Jurist grants short trial day, with warning

Robert Gavi, Times Union

By Robert Gavin

Updated 9:26 pm, Thursday, May 1, 2014

Lawyers, William Dreyer, left, and E. Stewart Jones, make their way into the Federal Courthouse on Thursday, May 1, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. The two men are representing former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno in his corruption trail which begins next week. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Lawyers, William Dreyer, left, and E. Stewart Jones, make their way...

Lawyers, William Dreyer, left, and E. Stewart Jones, make their way into the Federal Courthouse on Thursday, May 1, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. The two men are representing former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno in his corruption trail which begins next week. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Lawyers, William Dreyer, left, and E. Stewart Jones, make their way...

Lawyers, William Dreyer, left, and E. Stewart Jones, make their way into the Federal Courthouse on Thursday, May 1, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. The two men are representing former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno in his corruption trail which begins next week. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Lawyers, William Dreyer, left, and E. Stewart Jones, make their way...

Lawyers, William Dreyer, left, and E. Stewart Jones, leave the Federal Courthouse on Thursday, May 1, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. The two men are representing former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno in his corruption trail which begins next week. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno walks past members of the media after leaving U.S. District Court after being indicted for a second time on Thursday afternoon May 3, 2012 in Albany, NY. (Philip Kamrass / Times Union )

The working day in the retrial of former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno will be shorter — as long as the former political powerhouse is not too talkative outside of court.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gary Sharpe conditionally ruled on Thursday that the trial, which begins Monday, will start at 10 a.m. and last until 4:30 p.m. each day. He said Bruno, 85, of Brunswick requested the shorter days for medical-related reasons.

Trial days in federal court generally run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

But Sharpe said his view will change if he sees Bruno outside the courthouse speaking to reporters about the trial. The longtime Republican senator did so regularly at his first trial in 2009.

"The minute I see him out there at 9 o'clock or 5 o'clock conducting press conferences with the people in the back, the condition has been dissatisfied and I'm going back to a 9-to-5 schedule," Sharpe said.

Bruno is charged with two counts of "honest services" mail fraud in connection with $240,000 he received from Loudonville businessman Jared Abbruzzese between 2004 and 2006. A federal jury in Albany convicted Bruno in 2009 of those charges under the belief that Bruno failed to disclose a conflict of interest.

The conviction was thrown out after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling retooled the federal honest services statute and found that the crime must include a bribery or kickback.

To convict Bruno at the retrial, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Coombe and William Pericak must prove that the alleged crime involved a bribe or a kickback in exchange for Bruno's official action or influence.

Sharpe also ruled Thursday that prosecutors may present evidence of two criminal counts on which Bruno was acquitted in 2009. Both counts are related to payments Bruno received while working as a "consultant" for Abbruzzese.

Sharpe said the evidence would let the prosecution "explain the story" of its case against Bruno.

The jury in the first trial convicted Bruno on two counts related to that work.

Bruno later worked for Motient Corp. and TerreStar, two other Abbruzzese-backed businesses. He continued to make $20,000 monthly. Bruno stopped receiving the money in 2005, the same year Abbruzzese paid him $40,000 for a horse considered to be all but worthless.

The jury at the first trial acquitted Bruno of two counts related to Motient Corp. and TerreStar, but convicted him of a count linked to money he received for the horse.

A panel of 62 potential jurors is expected to arrive in court early Monday.